Skip to main content

Why do we subsidize our employers with our money and our health?


I just ran into this old article which reminded me of something I read a few weeks ago. That more recent article (which I can't find because I am aging disgracefully) talked jokingly about how Americans eat too much fast food. The article was not substantive, but American commenters were very upset because Europeans don't understand convenience.

The argument was that Americans eat fast food frequently because it is convenient to their lifestyle. Which made me realize just how much the American worker has embraced their employers' needs as their own...while their employers simultaneously fight against the needs of their workers, even for things as simple as a living wage.

Let's be clear: Americans eat fast food because their employers give them very limited time to eat. This creates two problems: 1. Americans eat unhealthy food that is readily available and filled with empty calories and 2. Americans spend more money on that less nutritious food to increase their availability to their employers. (Think about the cost of making one plate of pasta, shrimp and capers v. a McDonald's meal-where I live, the shrimp meal would be cheaper if I only had the time to prepare it)

By embracing "convenience" as a personal benefit and not as a necessity created by employers and their policies, workers continue to subsidize terrible and unhealthy business models. If employers were good at what they do, they would be able to make a living by paying their workers fair wages on fewer hours so their employees could have time to prepare and eat healthy foods. Anything less, and the employer essentially depends on the subsidy of their employees in order to exist. We live in an economic climate where most employers are bad at their business, so that they need their employees to subsidize their business endeavor with money, time and health. Any good business person would never depend on such a subsidy.

Here is the thing though, at what point in our history did Americans accept that this subsidy to their employers was anything other than a subsidy? Italian, Turkish and German workers go up in arms at attempts to cut the time they have to prepare and eat food. Mind you, Turkey and Germany are lending countries globally, while Italy is a borrowing country. What we see is that having an economy that fosters employers who don't need this subsidy from workers doesn't necessarily lead to either a good or bad macro economy, but an economy that requires this employee subsidy does lead to an unhealthy country.

So my question is, when are American workers going to take their time, health and money back?

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

INSPIRATION

This is one of my favorite paintings because it is so unexpected. It is not of my typical style or executed the way I would've have liked to see it executed. Instead, I love this picture because it reminds me that you never know what can be inspired by what. I did this painting after a trip to Vermont during the fall. I assumed I would have been inspired to paint organic images and shapes, but instead, I was inspired to paint primary colors in squares and triangles.
Post a Comment
Read more

WHAT PRESENCE OF "BIRTHERS" TELLS US ABOUT WHAT IT MEANS TO TRULY BELONG IN AMERICA

It appears Trump has been satisfied with the long form of President Barak Obama's birth certificate. I guess the various affirmations and certifications from Hawaii's officers that he was in fact born in Hawaii were not enough. Trump may be satisfied, but the rest of the birthers are not. Frankly, they never will be. Fundamentally, they are not so much concerned with whether he was born or not born in the U.S. Their concern is whether he is a "Citizen" in the truest and purest meaning of the word. Whether he is a human being endowed with rational thought and entitled to the same rights as any other human being who is endowed with rational thought as they imagine themselves to be. In other words, is he just as important to society as they are? Is he as human as they are? They would like the answer to be no. What I always find fascinating about the birthers' position is that they have never challenged President Obama's mother's citizenship. They have onl...
Post a Comment
Read more

I CAN'T PASS JUDGMENT ANYMORE

I know all of my friends are loving the ease and convenience of carrying books around on a Kindle, or whatever the gadget of the day is, but this move to electronic reading is really affecting my ability to judge others, yes, you heard me right-judging others is now difficult. It used to be that I could sit on the train and just by watching book covers, and their respective readers, I would get an idea of what books I might like. Now, everyone has a kindle and I can't really derive reading recommendations without appearing to be a stalker. But worse than that, new friendships are severely affected. I used to be able to walk into someone's house and look at their bookcase and know whether I should run the other way-now, the non-visibility of books makes identifying incompatibility so much more difficult. For example, if someone were to walk into my house, this is what they might see:   You would be correct in making quite a few assumptions about me based on this ...
2 comments
Read more